eating unrefrigatored quail eggs?

[yallapilko]

I'm in the UK and eggs are never washed before sale (chickens) unlike the UK. This means they keep the protective seal around them and they keep for one month only, if kept in a cool place.
Generally here, people will do the same with quail eggs i.e. keep them up to one month. But by the end of the month, they are obviously not as fresh.
You can check whether an egg is OK to eat by placing it in water. If it floats then it's off and don't eat it!

 

[Bettacreek]

The way a refrigerator works, is it pulls moisture out of the air in order for it to cool the inside of the fridge. If you were to place a hygrometer in your fridge, you can verify that there is very low humidity inside of it compared to the outside air. The inside of a fridge should ideally be about 10% relative humidity. Eggs aren't 100% sealed, and have small holes all over them, and when refrigerated, the fridge draws moisture, which in turn evaporates whats inside the egg into the atmosphere.

Regular mineral oil is not good to put on eggs, but food grade mineral oil is perfectly OK. If you decide to do, it has to be the food grade.

The reason mineral oil preserves it like that, is it mimics the fluid that's inside the hen and allows there to be a "membrane" around the egg keeping it sealed from the atmosphere. Ideally they should be stored in a basement/cellar or something similar. Around 55-60 deg F and around 30-40% humidity.

Moisture loss doesn't equate nutrition loss though? The fridge is basically a cool temp dehydrator.

As for the mineral oil, yes food grade. I'm sorry I was too lazy to look it up last night, lol. I know someone who tried lard and I guess it worked fairly well as well.

 

[chrishel]

I did it for 10 days and everything hatched out well. I had four hens at that time and collected 40 eggs. I have to look back at some of the topics here. We were collecting eggs for a hatch-a-long and there were some good tips on egg storage.

Basically, the goal was to keep the eggs cool but not refrigerator cold. Basement or cellar temperatures would work. My eggs did experience temperature fluxuations since I would fill the cup with ice before work, then replace it when I got home and before bed. I used the incubator since it's insulated and it was convenient.

 

[AZ Birds]

I did it for 10 days and everything hatched out well. I had four hens at that time and collected 40 eggs. I have to look back at some of the topics here. We were collecting eggs for a hatch-a-long and there were some good tips on egg storage.

Basically, the goal was to keep the eggs cool but not refrigerator cold. Basement or cellar temperatures would work. My eggs did experience temperature fluxuations since I would fill the cup with ice before work, then replace it when I got home and before bed. I used the incubator since it's insulated and it was convenient.

great to know i may have to try this. i only get 5 eggs a day from my 7 hens right now so if i can save more eggs for 3 more days that would be awesome. what was your hatching percentage?

 

[drowe005]

Moisture loss doesn't equate nutrition loss though? The fridge is basically a cool temp dehydrator.

As for the mineral oil, yes food grade. I'm sorry I was too lazy to look it up last night, lol. I know someone who tried lard and I guess it worked fairly well as well.

Trust me on the fridge. Do some research on it if you need to.

Not only does nutrients evaporate out along with the moisture, but as the moisture is evaporated from the egg, the structural composition also breaks down, causing the breakdown of proteins and nutrients, effecting the texture and taste of eggs. Not only can fluids evaporate, but so can solids (nutrients); this process of solids going directly to the vapor phase is called sublimation.

Go get 2 eggs, eat one now, and then let the other one sit in the fridge for 10 days, and eat it; let me know if they taste the same. And if they do, its all psychological. Mostly all large scale egg farms do not refrigerate their eggs for this reason.

 

[Bettacreek]

I'm not trying to argue or anything, I'm really not, I'm just trying to wrap my mind around it, because it doesn't make sense, lol. I can't find much (err, anything really) on B vitamins, but Vitamin C is apparently pretty well researched with evaporation (mainly in fruit juices). The ones I've been finding are saying that it's oxidation, not dehydration that is destroying the vitamin C, and that opened containers of fruit juices often have a HIGHER concentration of Vitamin C than before the carton was left opened in the fridge. The theory, of course, being that the water is evaporating out, and the oxidation of the Vitamin C is slower than the evaporation rate. I'm still looking for stuff on B vitamins and evaporation, lol.

 

[chrishel]

If I remember correctly, out of the 40 eggs, 38 pipped. 2 did not zip correctly. The two eggs that did not hatch came from the same hen, so it was probably hen related. I did not mark the dates on the eggs, so I don't know if those two were the oldest or not.

I have some issues in the bloodline of my quail so my hatch rate may or may not be related to the quail genetics themselves.

 

[drowe005]

great to know i may have to try this. i only get 5 eggs a day from my 7 hens right now so if i can save more eggs for 3 more days that would be awesome. what was your hatching percentage?

If you plan on saving your eggs for a little while before setting them in the incubator, be sure to turn your eggs a couple times a day and that will keep your hatch rate up. If you dont know what turning eggs is-- say you store your eggs in an egg crate; lift up one end of the egg carton and place, say a block of wood, to where the egg carton is slanted like / (but not nearly so steep ha). Then maybe 6-8 hours later, place the block of wood or whatever youre using on the other side of the egg carton \ . This keeps the yolk from sticking to the egg and significantly keeps the hatch rate up over not turning the eggs.

 

[AZ Birds]

If I remember correctly, out of the 40 eggs, 38 pipped. 2 did not zip correctly. The two eggs that did not hatch came from the same hen, so it was probably hen related. I did not mark the dates on the eggs, so I don't know if those two were the oldest or not.

I have some issues in the bloodline of my quail so my hatch rate may or may not be related to the quail genetics themselves.

that sounds good to me

 

[AZ Birds]

If you plan on saving your eggs for a little while before setting them in the incubator, be sure to turn your eggs a couple times a day and that will keep your hatch rate up. If you dont know what turning eggs is-- say you store your eggs in an egg crate; lift up one end of the egg carton and place, say a block of wood, to where the egg carton is slanted like / (but not nearly so steep ha). Then maybe 6-8 hours later, place the block of wood or whatever youre using on the other side of the egg carton \ . This keeps the yolk from sticking to the egg and significantly keeps the hatch rate up over not turning the eggs.

yeah i usually just put them in the egg turner on counter and let the turner do the turning. but will now instead put the turner in the incubator with a cup of ice. just sold 70 quail chicks today so thinking about getting a 3rd incubator this week.